At ONE 156: Eersel vs. Sadikovic, Jackie Buntan and Smilla Sundell will compete for the inaugural ONE Women’s Strawweight Muay Thai World Championship. As ONE Championship prepares to crown its next queen, one who sits atop her throne will be cheering on her teammate.
Janet Todd Predicts Title Win For Buntan
Bunta’s Boxing Works teammate, Janet Todd, the reigning ONE Atomweight Kickboxing World Champion, is a primary training partner for Buntan. And as the two have made their way to the top in their respective divisions under the watchful eye of Bryan Popejoy, Todd has seen the growth of her counterpart.
As the days near toward ONE 156, Todd is confident a new gold belt will join the gym.
“I feel that Jackie’s training has been going well. We’ve been parsing the same things that we generally practice, you know, good defense, good vision, timing, and such,” said Todd.
“And I’ve seen stuff that we’ve drilled come out in her sparring. So I’m excited. I’m really excited to see what she does.”
And it is not just her skills that Todd is impressed by Buntan. It’s her mindset.
Buntan has been a part of Todd’s corner throughout her ONE career, and having been around championship bouts will allow her to acclimate to a moment she has yet to experience in her own career.
“Jackie has always been mentally tough. She’s overcome a lot of adversity throughout her fight career. In terms of what I’ve imparted on her for preparation for this world title fight, she was actually one of my corners for my title fight against Stamp, the first Muay Thai title fight that I had,” said Todd.
“So she kind of got to see what happens behind the scenes and sort of the preparation that I went into for that fight. So, you know, I think she’s well prepared for her upcoming title fight next week.”
Buntan debuted with a thrilling domination against Wondergirl. She flattened the Thai star in the first round before getting the unanimous decision nod. In her next two outings against Ekaterina Vandaryeva and Daniela Lopez, she continued her unbeaten run on the global stage.
At each step, Todd has watched her teammate improve.
“Jackie continues to impress me with how much she improves with every fight. It seems like she continually gets stronger, has even better vision than she had before, better timing. I mean, I think she’s been excelling in every possible way, and it’s evident in her fights,” said the ONE Atomweight Kickboxing World Champion.
“I mean, you can see her express her style, especially in her last fight. Her feints, her timing, you know, it’s always very inspirational for me to watch her fight.”
“Of course, I’m taking Jackie to win her title fight. Like I said, she’s improved her power and her timing, and I think she has both of those in her favor to win this fight or get a finish.”
But Buntan will not be Todd’s only focus at ONE 156. On the lead card, Anissa Meksen will take on Marie Ruumet.
The pound-for-pound great has already called out Todd for a shot at the kickboxing gold. But Todd, whose first love is Muay Thai, will have her sights set on the atomweight tilt before Buntan makes her walk down the aisle.
“I watched Marie fight Little Tiger, and she’s really well rounded. She’s able to transition from hands to elbows nicely. And she’s made a huge improvement since other fights that I’ve seen,” said Todd.
“So if she’s able to make huge improvements from the Little Tiger fight, then I can only imagine what kind of improvements she can make for the Anissa fight. What Anissa has for her advantage is her movement and her speed. I hate making predictions, but you know, I’ll be there, definitely watching them both closely.”
The reigning atomweight kickboxing queen will have her plate full at ONE 156, and she won’t even be stepping into the Circle.
ONE 156: Eersel vs. Sadikovic airs live and free beginning at 5 a.m. ET/2 a.m. PT on watch.onefc.com. The lead card can also be viewed on ONE’s official Facebook and YouTube pages. The main card will begin at 8:30 a.m. ET/5:30 a.m. PT on watch.onefc.com.
